1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display device, a method of manufacturing the liquid crystal display device, and an electronic apparatus.
2. Related Art
In a liquid crystal display device such as a liquid crystal panel, an inorganic alignment film using an oblique physical vapor deposition has been developed as an alignment film for regulating alignment of the liquid crystal molecules. In particular, a liquid crystal display device having normally black properties in a vertical alignment (VA) mode is promising due to having a high contrast ratio. For example, a liquid crystal layer including liquid crystal molecules with negative dielectric anisotropy is used in the liquid crystal display device in the VA mode.
The liquid crystal layer is interposed between a first substrate having a pixel electrode disposed in a matrix form and a second substrate having a counter electrode. The pixel electrode and the counter electrode include an alignment film in which liquid crystal molecules are aligned in the normal direction of the substrate, respectively. In addition, hereinafter, the normal direction will be described as referring to the vertical direction.
When using the oblique physical vapor deposition for forming of the alignment film, if there is a step (convex portion) in the first substrate, an area in which the alignment film is not formed may occur in shadowed location. Thus, it is known that the oblique vapor deposition is performed from two directions as described in JP-A-2010-26274, the oblique vapor deposition is also performed in the shadowed area to suppress display unevenness and the like.
In addition, a panel body on which the liquid crystal layer is interposed between the first substrate and the second substrate is interposed between a pair of polarizing plates disposed in a Crossed Nichol. Absorption axes of two polarizing plates are disposed such that the liquid crystal molecules are arranged tilted in a direction of 45 degrees with respect to the first substrate when being viewed from the top.
If the pixel electrode and the counter electrode have the same potential (there is no vertical electric field), a black display is performed. If voltage is applied between the pixel electrode and the counter electrode (there is a vertical electric field), a white display is performed. A display of intermediate gradation may change the alignment direction of the liquid crystal molecules by adjusting the corresponding potential difference.
If a voltage is applied to the adjacent pixel electrodes to perform the black display and the white display, an electric field is generated in a gap between the pixel electrodes performing the black display and the white display, and the electric field (lateral electric field) intersects with (perpendicular of) the longitudinal direction of the corresponding gap when being viewed from the top. Since the lateral electric field is generated in a direction substantially parallel to the absorption axis which of polarizing palates, a black area will occur in a pixel electrode originally provided with a white display. In addition, since the corresponding black area generates a black area of stripe shape in the white display part as well as between the pixel electrodes, the brightness of the white display is reduced, and the contrast is lower. Therefore, there is a problem that the quality of display is deteriorated. In JP-A-2009-168924, a method of alleviating the lateral electric field by forming an absence part of a common electrode in the counter electrode (common electrode) has been explained. In addition, hiding this area using a black matrix is also known.
However, JP-A-2010-26274 is not described how to solve the problem that arises regarding the lateral electric field. In addition, JP-A-2009-168924 is described that the lateral field is alleviated by forming an absence part of a common electrode. However, it is necessary to form a second substrate including a pattern having the absence part of the common electrode, and there is a problem in that further manufacturing processes are required. In addition, when using the technique described in JP-A-2009-168924, aligning a position of the second substrate including a pattern having the absence part of the common electrode and a position of a first substrate including the pixel electrode is required. However, if the first and second substrates become large, it is difficult to align the positions of the first and second substrates. Therefore, there is a problem in that it is difficult to accommodate larger substrates. In addition, when using the black matrix, there is a problem that the opening rate itself is decreased.